Finding Lines

Previous challenges inspired a lot of thought; my mind raced with ideas and possibilities.  But it was difficult for me to interpret those ideas into a concrete design.  This time, I was more in my “comfort zone”.  Horizons, lines, boundaries – these concepts are much easier to imagine visually.

I began by exploring lines that are “real” in that they exist independently of ourselves – blades of grass, the line formed by two planes intersecting (like 2 walls meeting in a corner), stripes on a tiger, the mast of a sailing ship.

Other lines are visibly obvious - we can see them, draw them, photograph them and name them… but they do not represent an actual concrete object. They appear under specific conditions and are influenced by the relationship of objects.  They are constantly moving or changing. The horizon changes according to our location and the objects in our field of view.  Shadows change according to the time of day and weather conditions.

I thought about other lines that are neither visible nor “real” in the concrete sense, but have a great affect on people’s lives, like time zones or boundaries between countries.

Happily, I was able to get started on my design pretty early in this challenge.  As I considered these different ideas, pictures were forming in my mind.  I mentioned my “comfort zone” – how I usually put together a composition. I try to create a believable sense of depth by playing with light and shadow, and I love to explore the effects of light bounced off different surfaces.

This challenge allowed me to play around in my favorite “sandbox”.  I’m excited to share my results and to see all the challenge designs next week!